Tempers rise after petrol price hike, protests today

The government's decision to hike petrol prices by Rs 3.14 per litre has drawn criticism from both the opposition and the allies.

While opposition BJP has demanded a rollback of the increase in price of petrol, the Left parties have termed the Congress-led UPA as callous. "BJP condemns this hike in petrol prices by Rs 3 per litre. We demand a rollback as this measure is against the common man. The UPA allies of Congress should also oppose this hike," party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said that the repeated increase in petrol prices shows how callous the UPA government has become. The current inflation rate has nearly touched double digit. At such a time this hike will only add to the burdens of the people, he added.

Slamming the Centre decision, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa has also demanded its immediate rollback as it would badly hit the common man.

UPA partner in government the Trinamool Congress has also expressed its angish over the rise alleging that it was kept in the dark about the decision.

Trinamool general secretary and union minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy on Thursday called up finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to express the party's annoyance over the matter. "We are unhappy over the way the petrol prices were raised. Despite being a partner in the central government, we were not consulted. We don't know anything about the decision," Roy told reporters.

However, the Congress has termed the hike as "inevitable". "It is obviously something, which we all have to bear with a heavy heart but it appears that it is inevitable," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh unit of BJP has called for statewide agitation today in protest against the hike of price of petrol. State BJP president Surya Pratap Sahi condemning the decision of the petroleum companies to hike the price of petrol by Rs three per litre has called for agitation at all district headquarters today.

The party workers would burn the effigy of the Centre and demonstrate to demand immediate withdrawal of the hike. Mr Sahi said the youths would be most affected due to this hike and it would certainly have a bad impact on the middle class families of the country.